2009 is all about shaking up the marketing industry
as you know it. The recession will have far-reaching
effects, but that’s not the only challenge that lies
ahead. Here are the first six forecasts to help you
prepare for the rest of the year.

Forecast #1: Businesses that continue to market
during the recession will become very profitable and
successful by 2010.

During the recession, some marketers will make a
fatal or crippling decision to cut prospecting.

And the last five recessions point to one
inescapable fact:

Those companies that continue to market will be more
profitable and dominant in their categories in the
next 12 to 18 months.

A McGraw Hill research study of recessionary
marketing, which examined 600 companies over 5
years, revealed those that maintained or increased
their advertising during a recession posted an
average sales growth of 256%.

In the last recession, only 25% of companies
increased their marketing. As a result, their
average market share growth outpaced other
businesses by 2.5 times.

Action Items:

• Use the best direct marketing possible.
Know your cost-per-lead and cost-per-sale for
every promotion. Know the lifetime value (LTV)
of your customers. Without this data, you’re
throwing your money away.

• Increase your database marketing for upselling,
cross-selling and loyalty efforts. But never
stop prospecting…otherwise it will set you back
several years in lost opportunities.

Also, manage your keyword program as a direct
marketer using direct response techniques and
principles. Ignoring proven techniques will lose you
money.

Action Items:

• Put yourself in your prospects’ mindset
when choosing keywords. Every month, 368,000
people search using “low price”…but over 20
million use “discount” and more than 100 million
use “sale.” Check your terms on the Google
Adwords keyword finder.

• Aggressively test and retest your paid search
ads to make them more responsive. You must
determine what’s driving response and what’s
dragging it down.

Now that all the Christmas promotions are over—and
2008’s seasonal sales did not match those of
2007—more retailers will turn to direct response.

The retailers that flourish will be those that do
the following:

• Gather information on what their customers
buy
• Create loyalty/rewards programs for their best
customers
• Bring back past customers
• Communicate effectively and regularly by using
direct response copy and art in mail and email

Borders uses direct response email marketing to
drive online sales and store traffic among its core
customers. Staples reports great success in reaching
small business prospects with direct response email
and Web campaigns.

Action Item:

• Experiment with different formats as part
of a multichannel approach, from coupon
postcards that push prospects to the web, to
catalogs and magalogs. Watch your response
skyrocket.

The average person sees an unbelievable 1,600 to
3,000 ads every single day. If that doesn’t seem
possible to you, don’t forget to count how many
email solicitations you (and your spam filter)
delete daily.

The fact is, 2008 was a record spam year, and email
response rates declined as a result. With this
growing volume, people have become trained to filter
out unwanted messages.

Integrating valuable information into your marketing
materials is one surefire way to help your message
get through—online and off. Why? Because consumers
are looking for credibility, not sales hype.

When they receive information they want and need,
they will keep reading…and they’ll view you as a
credible authority.

Action Items:

• Make sure your prospect learns something in
each mail and email communication you send. That
creates value…and it earns you the right to send
another message. For example, a nutritional
supplement company could include articles with
health tips.

• You can also boost email delivery by
instructing recipients to add your “from”
address to their safe senders list.

Forecast #6: The “classic” Internet homepage
is officially obsolete.

Studies show homepages are stagnant billboards that
depress response. In 2009, your business should be
using micro-sites and landing pages, which are sites
that generate leads or sales for one product.

These pages have powerful sales copy that motivates
your prospect to act—and they don’t have navigation
distractions.

In other words, homepages are anti-marketing;
landing pages are direct marketing.

Action Items:

• If your company sells many products, give
each its own site with tailored direct response
copy that maximizes your SEO or paid search
success. Make sure each one has its own URL.

Also, your microsite should have limited (or
zero) navigation options. It should use only direct
response copy and graphics to guide the prospect
toward action.

These are the first six
marketing forecasts for what’s on the horizon for
2009. Check back next month for the remaining six!